Teenagers more likely to give birth early

9th July 2010

Researchers have found that pregnant teenagers are more likely to give birth prematurely and have a small baby than women in their 20s.

Girls aged 14-17 were also more likely to give birth early if they were having a second child, a study of more than 50,000 women in England found. The findings, reported in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, highlighted the importance of routine medical checks with the team say that more studies were needed to find out why the young were at risk.